An Epic Remade - Raiders: The Adaptation

**Note** Do yourself a favor and download this trailer. (Right click and "save as") courtesy of TheRaider.net

Cue Don LaFontaine:
“In 1982, Jayson Lam, Eric Zala, and Chris Strompolos began shooting a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
*Ominous music plays*
Don: “They were twelve years old.”

You might recognize Don LaFontaine from a recent Geico commercial, and you’d definitely recognize the voice on any epic movie trailer. Simply put, no other voice could be paired with the trailer for “Raiders: The Adaptation”; the film and the story of how it came to be are nothing short of epic. It took seven years, a submarine, almost burning down a house, and an army of neighborhood kids, but they did it.

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Their story begins with an endless school bus ride down by the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was the summer of 1981; right after Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in theaters. Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala shared the same bus, and the same interest for Indiana Jones. Well, I shouldn’t say the same interest, per se; since Eric had only seen the film in theatres once, and Chris was engrossed enough to already have an Indiana Jones comic book compilation. But the friendship took root as Chris generously let Eric borrow the comic; little did Eric know that his interest in comics would lead to a seven-year ordeal.

“He had seen a film that I had done in sixth-grade, and thought mistakenly that I knew something about filmmaking. He gave me a call out of the blue, ‘Hey Eric, this is Chris, the kid from the bus who loaned you the comic book… I’m doing this shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Do you want to help?’ and I said “Yeah! Sure, sounds good”, said Zala.

Like Strompolos, Zala made his own assumptive mistakes. Zala thought the sets were built, costumes picked out, and with a cast already in place… but in truth, only two things had been completed: Chris was cast as Indiana Jones and the script had been purchased from a Waldenbooks.

“It was mainly born out of fantasy to play Indiana Jones. I wanted to create that world and live in that world myself,” said Strompolos.

The pair set to work, scoping out the basement and backyard of Zala’s mom’s house for sets and rounding up neighborhood kids to play the parts. But tackling a remake was not as easy as finding a bullwhip and an Indiana Jones hat. The first Marion moved away to Alaska, and had to be recast. The Indiana Jones costume saw several changes. Puberty took hold and dragged the boys from the higher octaves and into the deep dark world of facial hair. Holiday and birthday gifts were coordinated so the film would have the right costumes and props. The bar fight scene, combined with a desire to include real special effects and inexperience with using it safely, nearly burned down the house and burned Eric in the process.

“For whatever reason, the day that I doubled for the ratty Nepalese, we decided to use gasoline on my back (instead of Isopropyl Alcohol). We were thinking we were playing it safe, because I was wearing a fire retardant rain coat underneath, and we had not one but two garden hoses, standing-by, a couple of security blankets, and a fire extinguisher as a last resort…” said Zala. “I was lit aflame, I stood up, screamed, hit my cue, and yelled cut. We had two kids run forth with the blankets to get the flames out, but these guys hadn’t done this type of thing before… they threw the blanket on my back, almost immediately pulled it off, threw it back on, pulled it off… they were actually fanning the flames higher… we finally resorted to the fire extinguisher”

But persistence paid off. The duo, now a trio with the addition of special FX and camera prodigy Jayson Lam, managed to create an entire shot-for-shot remake of Raiders (all except for the plane scene). They spent entire summers editing at night at the local ABC station (WLOX) where Strompolos’ mom was an anchor. The film was finished, and the trio was content. The local news media had even turned them into minor celebrities over the years, but soon the film was akin to the Ark itself: lost to time. Strompolos’ wife didn’t even know about the Raiders: Adaptation movie until “Raiders: The Adaptation” exploded onto the festival scene. It wasn’t until June of 2003 that the movie was given its “World Premiere” at The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas (theraiders.net). Overnight, the trio became “The Godfathers of the fan film”.

Touring across the country, the “Raiders: The Adaptation” guys began to show off their film to throngs of fans. They did their best to skip any legal hurdles by donating all of their proceeds to local charities or organizations like Doctors Without Borders. Zala and Strompolos routinely held classes for young filmmakers, not too far removed from the True/False event “Indy-Pendent Filmmaking” that will be held at the United Methodist church on Saturday, March 3 from 11am-1:30pm. But even better than simply avoiding legal problems, the trio had a private screening for the people at Lucasfilm and received written praise from and met the ‘Berg himself. They were given a tour of the Lucasfilm archives. Zala has a picture of when the group “opened the real Ark” at the archives, but said they were forbidden from actually opening the holy prop. No one, and I mean no one, should look inside the Ark.

Basking in the glory that is the Lucasfilm archives may be well and good, but it was just one experience. And for Zala and Strompolos, at every screening they get to see more than their own show. The audience members themselves provide the pair with just as much entertainment and excitement.

“When we were in Palm Beach, Florida, we had this guy show up, and he was in his 30s, really nice guy. He was sitting right behind us and we watched the movie, and Eric and I stood up to go do the Q&A. I remember this guy putting his hand on my shoulder and kinda turning me around, just looking at me. His eyes were wide open, he had tears in his eyes, and he was crying. He said, ‘Oh my god. You did it.’ All he could say was ‘You did it. You did what we all wanted to do.’ It was a really cool feeling.”

Strompolos and Zala agree that Raiders has been more than just a movie. Its rediscovery has been a chance for them to reconnect, to relive their past, and share the delight and wonder of childhood with entire generations of fans. And watching the movie again and again helps the Zala and Strompolos realize just how lucky they were to have had an Indiana Jones-adapted childhood.

“In college, I probably would have dismissed the idea as being too much of a kid thing. I would have wanted to do more original work. It was a bit of serendipity that we had this little seven-year window from 12-19, being able to finish the movie just as we become young adults with different tastes,” said Zala.

“It was lightning in a bottle… the thing for us was that we didn’t plan on anyone else seeing it. We did it for ourselves… we thought, ‘why would anyone want to see this?’ Our egos would probably be more involved. It wouldn’t have that raw childhood magic,” said Strompolos.

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Check out “Raiders: The Adaptation” on Sunday, March 4 at 3:30 pm at the Blue Note. It might not be your regular True/False documentary, but there’s a reason it’s listed as a “Special Presentation”. Come relive Zala and Strompolos’ childhood, and bask in the story that has already spawned at least one documentary called "When We Were Kids" (release date TBD).

Be sure to check out more Raiders info at:
The Raider Fan Page
and
The Indy Experience

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